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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. field — a subject
  3. field — farmland
  4. drill — the tool
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. current — electric
  8. bass — the fish
  9. drill — a practice
  10. bass — low music
  11. field — for sport
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bark — to shout
  16. current — happening now
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. saw — the tool
  19. saw — the tool
  20. drill — army training
  21. current — of water
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. clip — a video

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com